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<. is Previous Public Agency Reports in the Sirhan Case On May 28, 1969, then District Attorney Evelle J. Younger issued a report at the conclusion of the trial and conviction of Sirhan giving an account of the nature of the investigation im- mediately following the assassination of Senator Kennedy. Younger stated that public interest and national security had required an exhaustive inquiry into the circumstances of the offense and the background and associates of the defendant Sirhan Sirhan. 0f particular concern to law enforcement agencies was the possibility that the accused, Sirhan, was a member of a conspiracy whose ob- jectives were not satisfied by the elimination of one political leader. Under the direction of Chief of Los Angeles Police Detectives Robert A. Houghton, the L.A.P.D. established a special task force Special Unit Senator! to conduct the investigation. Younger reported that well over 5,000 witnesses, and others pre- tending to have some knowledge of events bearing upon the crime, were interviewed. Younger further stated that agents of the F.B.l., acting independently of California law enforcement agencies, conducted a parallel investigation, including interviews with hundreds of individuals across the country, who were not easily accessible to local authorities. Included among these files were recorded interviews of more than 70 people who alleged to have observed the defendant Sirhan at some time during the evening of June H, and early moring of June 5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel. Sixty-five witnesses were called by the prosecution to testify during the course of the trial. Younger stressed that the total number of witnesses called by both prosecution and defense, whose testimony proved pertinent to the issues of the indictment, probably did not exceed 2% of the combined work product of the Los Angeles Police Department and the F.B .I. Three years after the murder of Senator Kennedy, and two years after the conviction of Sirhan for that murder, Los Angeles Attorney Barbara Warner Blehr sent a letter to Muriel M. Morse, general manager of the personnel department of the Los Angeles City Civil Service Commission, the letter dated May 23, 1971. This letter alleged that L.A.P.D. criminalist Dewayne Wolfer had acted improperly in conducting ballistics tests and testifying concerning evidence in the Sirhan case. On June U, 1971, District Attorney Joseph P. Busch announced the initiation of an independent investi- gation into these charges. Busch stated, "As this office was responsible for the prosecution of Sirhan Sirhan for the assas- sination of Senator Kennedy, it is incumbent upon us to conduct the investigation so that there will be no loss of confidence on the part of the public as to whether the facts presented in the court- room were correct." On October 18, 1971, District Attorney Busch issued a report stating that the allegations of Barbara Warner Blehr concerning the procedures of Dewayne Wolfer in the Sirhan case were untrue. Busch stated that these allegations appeared to be the -result of inadequate examination of the trial records and of incomplete in- vestigation of the actions of Mr. Wolfer in the case. &#39; -18- , C3 C1 O